Eraserheads reunion to banner UAAP Season 87 opening rites

MANILA, Philippines -- The UAAP Season 87 will kick off next month -- with a smile.

Legendary Filipino rock band Eraserheads will be the headliner of the grand opening ceremony of the UAAP Season 87 on September 7 at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

The band behind one of the best OPM rock songs ever “Ang Huling El Bimbo” is set to be the main event of the opening ceremony for the season hosted by the University of the Philippines.

"We're happy that the Eraserheads are going to share their magic with the UAAP as we start Season 87. This is exactly what we have in mind with the theme for this season,” said UP Office for Athletics and Sports Development Director Bo Perasol in Filipino.

The season will have the theme “Stronger. Better. Together.”

"They reached the top, disbanded, reunited, and now, full circle to their homecoming in the UAAP. They are true music icons and legends and our national pride,” he added.

Last week, the university gave the band the Gawad Oblation Award -- the highest distinction that UP bestows on its alumni for their significant contributions and extraordinary service.

The opening ceremony will have separate tickets from the season-opener between the UP Fighting Maroons and Ateneo Blue Eagles later in the day.

But prior to the start of the season, the UAAP schools will already have their respective pep rallies.

UP, as host, will visit the seven other universities to gift them with a symbolic, LED-lit torch that will be displayed throughout the year and will be taken off its perch at the end of the season, which is reminiscent of the extinguishing of the Olympic Flame at the end of The Games.

The university also invited each school to interpret the season theme and express it through art on a large canvas to be called "The Unity Wall", which is expected to be exhibited in playing venues throughout the year.

“This is not the traditional torch relay at the start of the season. Instead, we are passing on a torch to each of our member-schools in the spirit of friendship and kinship, reminding us of the harmony and cooperation that exists within the league," Perasol said.

“The artworks, although they’re different, will form a collective whole and deliver the same message. Like the UAAP, we're stronger, better, together not because we're all the same, but actually, because we are all different.”